Flight Review: Qatar Airways Business Class, Doha to Casablanca

After flying from Philadelphia to Doha, Qatar, and then spending an overnight in Doha, we were set for a nine-hour flight from Doha to Casablanca. Unlike our previous flight, which was on an Airbus A350, this flight was on a Boeing 777-300ER.

Here’s how I booked our tickets and a full review of the flight.

» Learn more: Flight review: Qatar Airways Qsuite business class, Philadelphia to Doha

The best way to book Qatar business class

Although Doha is out of the way when flying from the U.S. to Morocco, it ended up being the best way to book our flights. I was traveling on this trip with my 10-year-old son, and he had his heart set on flying business class. Using American Airlines AAdvantage miles is one of the best ways to book Qatar business class.

American requires 70,000 AAdvantage miles per person to fly from the U.S. to the Middle East, or only 5,000 additional miles to anywhere in Africa. Doha to Casablanca clocks in at 3,569 flown miles — not bad for only an extra 5,000 AAdvantage miles.

Our entire itinerary was Cincinnati to Philadelphia to Doha to Casablanca for 75,000 American AAdvantage miles and $19.30 per person. The Cincinnati to Philadelphia flight was in domestic first class on American Airlines, and the other two legs were in business class on Qatar Airways. The Philadelphia to Doha leg was in Qsuites, while the Doha to Casablanca leg was in non-QSuite business class.

Boarding and cabin

Our flight from Philadelphia to Doha arrived mid-afternoon. We had overnighted at the Ramada Encore by Wyndham Doha. Our flight to Casablanca was scheduled to leave at 8:40 a.m., so we decided to leave the hotel around 5:30 a.m. to have plenty of time to hang out at the Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Class lounge at Doha airport.

» Lounge review: Qatar Airways Al Safwa first class lounge

After a bit of food and relaxation, it was time to make our way to our gate to board our Boeing 777-300ER.

Our seat

Even though this was a non-QSuite flight, it still offered lie-flat seats in business class, which was nice for a nearly nine-hour flight. Our plane was configured with 2-2-2 business class seats. The major downside of such a configuration is that the window seats do not have direct aisle access. Since we were flying together, it wasn’t as big of a problem as it might be if you were on your own. We picked seats 3J and 3K, which were on the right side of the plane.

You can see that while it’s not a problem to access the window seats (A or K) while the seats are sat up, it absolutely becomes an issue if you’re in lie-flat mode. If I were traveling solo, I would probably take one of the middle (E or F) seats.

Here’s another angle of the J and K window seats from the rear, where you can see the depth of the seats as well as the Qatar Oryx inflight entertainment system.

Amenity kit

Each seat came with a pillow, blanket and amenity kit. The blanket was soft and comfortable, and the amenity kit is pictured below. The Qatar business class amenity kit came with a sleep mask, socks and various toiletries. Unlike our flight from Philadelphia to Doha, pajamas were not provided. That was fine, since it was a daytime flight and we still had our pajamas from our earlier Qatar Airways business class flight.

Service and food

The business class food service was served a la carte, and you could order anything at any time.

And of course, even though I had already eaten at the Al Mourjan business class lounge, I figured it was time for “second breakfast.”

I had the cheese plate as my appetizer.

And then the red cheddar omelette with sausage, which was delicious.

A little bit later in the meal, I had one of my favorite things I’ve ever had as a business class meal.

I have long lamented the fact that airlines insist on serving all sorts of “fancy” food. When my daughter and I flew EVA Air business class to Taipei, my dessert was a (small) “fancy” thing of fruit and ice cream, while she got a full-sized candy bar. Now, of course, Qatar had to call this “chicken and beef mini sliders” but it was a full-on burger and fries. It was great and the taste was excellent as well.

My son had the Qatar Airways business class kids meal, which was a sort of chicken nugget with mashed potatoes and vegetables. He said it was good but I caught him eyeing my hamburger and fries.

After a flight time of just over nine hours, we landed in Casablanca a little before 3 p.m. (there is a two-hour time difference between Doha and Casablanca).

I found Qatar Airways business class on the Boeing 777-300 to be just as enjoyable as the flight with the QSuites configuration.

Photos courtesy of Dan Miller.